- Joined
- Oct 25, 2014
- Messages
- 35
Well I now have a shop building. Its still unheated, but at least now I have some space for the machines and can start to do some work on/with them. One of them is this shaper: https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/picked-up-a-shaper.49544/
Still have not been able to figure out the origin of the shaper, right now mainly interested in cleaning and assessing everything so that when I'm finally able to remove it from the wheels its on I can actually use it. In the past someone used grease instead of oil and the entire thing is covered in grime. I think that this is actually helped preserve it, but it means that I have some serious cleaning to do.
However... in cleaning I found a major problem. The left side back clamp mounting boss on the cross rail is broken. What I thought was dirt and grime is 2 broken pieces. So after cussing, swearing, crying etc., I sat down and tried to think my way around this problem. I had to do some reading to make sure I had the right terminology, and even then I'm sure I'm getting wrong somehow. So, here's some pics:
The cross rail with the 'saddle' and the table removed. (The saddle moves side-to-side on the cross rail and the cross rail moves up and down.)
The cast 'boss' that the back clamp (a simple flat bar) bolts to. You can see the gib (brass?) - the back clamp is removed. Both of the bolt holes for the clamp are blind and on the lower one you can see where someone (a "mechanic".... grrrrr) had a bolt that was too long and just kept tightening down instead of getting the right size and then broke the cast iron. Can't tell for sure but I think that this person may have done the same with the upper bolt. There are two sets of gib screws, I think that this person realized the mistake and did a crappy repair trying to hide it....
Here is the cross rail removed, showing the damage. The 2 sets of gib screw indentations are very visible. The upper bolt hole is to the left, lower to the right.
Here is the back clamp with the 2 broken pieces.
Here is a side view, the ruler was attempt to show the size of the 'boss' and the amount of material that is broken and and the thickness of the cross rail itself. Unfortunately the flash makes it hard to see the divisions on the ruler. Basically the 'boss' is about 7/8" square by about 5" long and the cross rail material here is about 7/8" thick.
So, here is my thought process;
I looked for several years trying to find a shaper that would work for me. Most of them that I found in Colorado much bigger than I have the room for or the ability to deal with. I had looked at a Hendy and a Cincinnati that were both over 18", as cool as that would be they're way more than I have the ability to deal with. I now live in eastern Montana which is almost more of a machine tool desert than where I was before. So unless someone sneaks by my place in the middle of then night and dumps a nice South Bend or Sheldon off in my driveway, this is what I have. Now what I've been rolling around in my mind is how to fix the shaper. I've also been picking the brains of my dad, uncle and a few machining friends, so now I'm hoping people here have ideas, or at least can pick our ideas appart and come up with something better. I would like to keep the repair cast iron. I'm an aircraft mechanic and deal with dissimilar metals all the time and I would rather stick with the same material.
I don't think getting a new casting is an option right now, probably cost more than the shaper is worth and/or what I spent on the thing. My original thoughts were to try to weld the boss back together - I've had success with this in the past. However, the break isn't very clean and welding cast iron is an art more than a science as well as it tends to warp. So that's out.
My next thought was a cast iron insert dovetailed or T-slotted in. However, I'm worried that this would weaken a major part that tends to take a lot of stress.
Here's my thoughts now, mill the 'boss' completely away and mill a shallow slot - no more than 1/16" deep, ideally 1/32" in the cross rail. Get a chunk of cast iron (grey iron) and make a cast iron insert about 7/8" x 1 1/2" x 5", silver solder in. Re-drill the mounting holes all the way through plus a few more to tap and thread for a few studs to add some rigidity, possibly a few holes for some taper pins (I have the reamers). I know that boring the holes all the way through I'll have to be care full about the length, but I'm pretty sure that's what caused the break in the first place. I'll try not to make that mistake!
I need to make some drawings, but what do you guys think? There's got to be some one on the board much smarter than my family and friends!
Still have not been able to figure out the origin of the shaper, right now mainly interested in cleaning and assessing everything so that when I'm finally able to remove it from the wheels its on I can actually use it. In the past someone used grease instead of oil and the entire thing is covered in grime. I think that this is actually helped preserve it, but it means that I have some serious cleaning to do.
However... in cleaning I found a major problem. The left side back clamp mounting boss on the cross rail is broken. What I thought was dirt and grime is 2 broken pieces. So after cussing, swearing, crying etc., I sat down and tried to think my way around this problem. I had to do some reading to make sure I had the right terminology, and even then I'm sure I'm getting wrong somehow. So, here's some pics:
The cross rail with the 'saddle' and the table removed. (The saddle moves side-to-side on the cross rail and the cross rail moves up and down.)
The cast 'boss' that the back clamp (a simple flat bar) bolts to. You can see the gib (brass?) - the back clamp is removed. Both of the bolt holes for the clamp are blind and on the lower one you can see where someone (a "mechanic".... grrrrr) had a bolt that was too long and just kept tightening down instead of getting the right size and then broke the cast iron. Can't tell for sure but I think that this person may have done the same with the upper bolt. There are two sets of gib screws, I think that this person realized the mistake and did a crappy repair trying to hide it....
Here is the cross rail removed, showing the damage. The 2 sets of gib screw indentations are very visible. The upper bolt hole is to the left, lower to the right.
Here is the back clamp with the 2 broken pieces.
Here is a side view, the ruler was attempt to show the size of the 'boss' and the amount of material that is broken and and the thickness of the cross rail itself. Unfortunately the flash makes it hard to see the divisions on the ruler. Basically the 'boss' is about 7/8" square by about 5" long and the cross rail material here is about 7/8" thick.
So, here is my thought process;
I looked for several years trying to find a shaper that would work for me. Most of them that I found in Colorado much bigger than I have the room for or the ability to deal with. I had looked at a Hendy and a Cincinnati that were both over 18", as cool as that would be they're way more than I have the ability to deal with. I now live in eastern Montana which is almost more of a machine tool desert than where I was before. So unless someone sneaks by my place in the middle of then night and dumps a nice South Bend or Sheldon off in my driveway, this is what I have. Now what I've been rolling around in my mind is how to fix the shaper. I've also been picking the brains of my dad, uncle and a few machining friends, so now I'm hoping people here have ideas, or at least can pick our ideas appart and come up with something better. I would like to keep the repair cast iron. I'm an aircraft mechanic and deal with dissimilar metals all the time and I would rather stick with the same material.
I don't think getting a new casting is an option right now, probably cost more than the shaper is worth and/or what I spent on the thing. My original thoughts were to try to weld the boss back together - I've had success with this in the past. However, the break isn't very clean and welding cast iron is an art more than a science as well as it tends to warp. So that's out.
My next thought was a cast iron insert dovetailed or T-slotted in. However, I'm worried that this would weaken a major part that tends to take a lot of stress.
Here's my thoughts now, mill the 'boss' completely away and mill a shallow slot - no more than 1/16" deep, ideally 1/32" in the cross rail. Get a chunk of cast iron (grey iron) and make a cast iron insert about 7/8" x 1 1/2" x 5", silver solder in. Re-drill the mounting holes all the way through plus a few more to tap and thread for a few studs to add some rigidity, possibly a few holes for some taper pins (I have the reamers). I know that boring the holes all the way through I'll have to be care full about the length, but I'm pretty sure that's what caused the break in the first place. I'll try not to make that mistake!
I need to make some drawings, but what do you guys think? There's got to be some one on the board much smarter than my family and friends!